Military Science: The Lost Episodes
by Imperial Fiction
Summary: One-shot collab. Not exactly a sequel to Military Science, The Lost Episodes is a coninuation of Military Science, more or less deleted scenes. They will tell you what I know a lot of you may wonder at the end of the story. R&R, Complete.
1. Time Never Stops

**I couldn't keep myself away from the work for long, so here's the in-between one-shot collab that can explain a few loose ends from Military Science. Don't think of this as a sequel, but more of as... DVD bonus videos. Unfortunately, as these are simply mini-sodes, so to speak, don't expect the Afterthought crew to appear at the end of each episode. Enjoy!**

**PS: Note that in my story, all political incidences are the same but the people involved in them are different, due to my sincere belief that the NSA is everywhere and that if I make even one comment against the government, I will be abducted and brainwashed. Just like _1984_!

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**Military Science: The Lost Episodes**

**Produced by: Imperial Fiction (formerly Naraku's Reincarnation) **

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**Chapter 1:**

**Time Never Stops**

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Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron. Period. Now, pretend that this little message existed in every chapter after this so I don't have to write it again.****

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_"It doesn't matter how special or important you are, time waits for no one. Kids will still grow up, the old will still die, people will have birthdays, and people will miss you each day that you are gone, going on with their normal lives nonetheless." --Alex Fanson, F-74_

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_While a giant spacecraft drifted into the Earth's atmosphere, attempting to land somewhere in the deserted city of Retroville, one particular news story was on the front page of every rushed copy of the Chicago Herald, New York Times, and USA Today along with every other major newspaper and news station in the world.

The President of the United States of America sat in the Oval Office, drinking a cup of fresh-squeezed orange juice for his early breakfast. Before the cup even reached his lips, his Secretary of State Arnold Typhon burst into the room, a manilla folder in hand and several aides following behind him.

"What the Hell just climbed up your ass and died, Arnie?" the President asked as he put down his orange juice.

Typhon picked up a remote control from off of the President's desk and pointed it at a TV, all the while flinging the manila folder at him frantically. He pressed the numbers for CCTV, the Chinese equivalent of CNN, and set the subtitles for English. "An asteroid just hit China."

The President nearly choked on his OJ which he had tried to drink again. "Say what?!"

"Just watch the TV, Mr. President," the Secretary of State muttered as he sat in a nearby chair and rubbed his temples.

A lady in a pink dress and disshelved hair spoke in rapidfire Chinese as the English subtitles translated for her:

_"-now just tuning in, there have been reports of an asteroid about the size of a van crashed into the Shangrila Buddhist Monastery. Along with the desctruction of the monastery and all monks within, the impact of the crash sent large amounts of debris into the air and has turned much of the southeastern part of Zhejiang province into inhospitable wasteland. There are no exact numbers on the casualties, but it has been estimated that along with the 400 monks in the monastery, the debris has spread far enough and was dense enough to lead our government to believe that the death toll is now around 1500 people and rising."_

_"A division of the People's Liberation Army has been dispatched to help resettle civillians and aide in the evacuation effort. Prime Minister Fa Taigong has ordered that all civillians in Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, and Jiangxi Provinces are to remain in their homes and wear damp cloth over their mouth to prevent them from inhaling any debris. They are to remain in their homes until further notice or until a People's Liberation Armt soldier tells them they need to evacuate. They are to do so without arguement and bring only preserved food if possible."_

_"More on this tragic story as it develops."_

The President joined Typhon in rubbing his temples as he set his orange juice aside. "This is going to devastate the Chinese economy."

Typon nodded. "Which means it'll devastate our economy, too."

The President thought for a moment. "Send the Peace Corps out to Je-, um... Je-"

"Zhejiang, sir?" the Secretary of State completed.

The President nodded. "Right, there. Send the Peace Corps there and have them help the PLA relocate the civillians and whatnot. Telegram the Chinese premeir; tell him that I'm sorry for the incident and that the United States of America will do anything it can to help our ally. Use those exact words, Typhon."

"Yes sir, Mr. President," Typon said. "Anything else, sir?"

The President nodded. "Have Air Force One ready for lift-off in about a week. I want to go check on Premeir Fa to see how he's doing, you know, keep PR up and Foreign Relations positive, especially with China. We need their economy and the world needs ours."

Typhon nodded once more. "Yes sir, I'll make it happen, sir."

After Typhon left the room, the President of the United States pressed the intercom for his executive assistant. "Clara, get me Vice President Nicoleson."

"He just call, Mr. President, says he lost his car keys at home and that he'll be a little late."

The President furrowed his eyebrows. "Alright, thanks Clara." He hung up. "Idiot."

"You know, it's not nice talking about your VP like, that, Mr. President."

The President looked up and saw nothing. He scanned the room, then out of his peripheral vision, he saw a figure dressed entirely in black; black one-piece tac suit, black ski mask, and black gloves. In his right hand he held a manila folder with a seal stamped on the front. The seal contained the image of the Earth with angel wings on either side of it. A thunderbolt ran down the middle of the Earth and underneath the Earth read the words, _Pro Deus Nos Pugna_. The President, whom had taken Remedial Latin in his senior year of high school, translated it into the words: For God we fight.

Before the President could say a word, the man, about his 24-year-old son's size, put a hand over the President's mouth. "Shh, I'm not hear to hurt you, Mr. President," the man said. "Just keep quiet." Then, the man removed his hand from the President's mouth slightly, enough so that he could talk with him.

The President shot back quietly, "Who the Hell are you? A terrorist?"

"Not even close, Mr. President," the man replied.

"Well you're obviously not a part of our Special Forces," the President retorted. "So who are you?"

The man sighed as he placed the manila folder on a chair in front of the President. He then set a small, square device in front of the door leading out of the oval office and it pulsed blue before all of the walls of the oval office were engulfed in a light blue aura. The man said in a louder voice, "The room is secure now, soundproof too. Now, let's talk, shall we Mr. President?"

The President glared daggers at the man before nodding. "Fine, fine. Now, answer my question. Who are you? Who do you work for?"

The man took a seat in front of the President's desk after removing the manila folder from it. He took off his ski mask to reveal a young, 25-year-old Caucasion man. "My name is Brandon Evercrest. I was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but not the Green Bay you know about."

"What are you talking about?" the President asked, now confused more than ever.

The man held up his hand. "If you would let me finish, sir." He cleared his throat. "Simply put, I am an Enforcer. I work for God."

The President raised a disbelieving eyebrow. He said in a droll tone, "You're an emissary from God?"

The man, Brandon, shrugged. "More of a soldier, but in this situation, yes, an emissary."

"You're deranged," the President replied.

Brandon smirked. "Am I? God, and all subordinate gods under him, can provide His Enforcers with anything they need to complete a mission. I've been sent from the leader of another universe to assist the leader of this one, and to do that, I must talk to you."

"'Another universe?'" the President echoed. "Enforcers, what the Hell's going on here?"

Brandon shook his head. "You'll learn later, Mr. President." He coughed. "Ahem, now, as I was saying. It's apparent that you don't believe me. Well, God knows all, as you know as a devout Catholic, so God has given me these interesting bits of information you never thought anyone would know about."

The President continued to glare at Brandon. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Brandon replied calmly as he opened the manila folder. "You didn't stop wetting the bed until you were 12."

"A lot of people have that problem," the President replied coolly.

"Your had your first girlfriend when you were 15 and she was a rather homely-looking chick named Ashley Wessen. You broke up with her not because you needed more space but because you were afraid she might get drunk and eat your cat, Mr. Whiskers."

The President began to sweat a little. "You could've read my journal from my high school years."

"Which you burned when you went to high school because you kept writing embarassing and sometimes perverted love letters in them to your first wife Heather Kramer, whom you married at age 30," Brandon replied. "Still not convinced?"

The President was stiff for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I believe you. So what does the good Lord want with me anyhow?"

Brandon smirked as he stood up and took out the more important contents of the manila folder and spreading them out over the President's desk. "Well, first let me tell you about the Enforcers before I tell you what I need you to do for the Enforcers..."


	2. The War Never Ended

**Chapter 2:**

**The War Never Ended**

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_"One of the worst things about being a leader after a war is not seeing the torn families, the torn victims, and the torn fabrics of society displayed so plainly in the streets; it's trying to rebuild all of those things along with lying to everyone that everything will be back to normal. For the families torn apart by war, the war never ended." --Phillip Garneau, G-52 **

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For the first time in in days, Jimmy Neutron, 12, finally felt at peace as he sat on the porch of his home. He was back on Earth and he felt great. He looked around the street his home was on and exhaled. It was good to be back home after being gone for so long. 

"Bark bark!" He looked behind him to see his dog Goddard run up to him, metallic tongue lagging to the side of his mouth as he sat in Jimmy's lap.

"Hey boy!" Jimmy chirped happily as he rubbed the special spot behind Goddard's ears. Despite being a mechanical dog, Goddard had all of the mannerisms and quirks of any normal dog, including having a very good love of having its ears scratched. Jimmy looked back out towards the streets. Yes, most things have gotten back to normal.

Then, there were some things that hadn't. He spotted Nick and Butch walking down the street together, both on skateboards. However, instead of passing by completely ignoring him or snapping off a biting insult, they both stopped, saluted, and then continued on their way. Jimmy smiled and continued to pet Goddard's head, taking his officer's service cap off and putting it next to him. He called after them. "Hey guys! Don't forget about the ceremony! It's in an hour!" The boys saluted once more and went back on their way.

Formerly, he was just Jimmy Neutron, boy genius, the brainiest and nerdiest kids in school. Now, he is known as Grand General James Isaac Neutron, N-12 Enforcer Legion. Regardless of what he was known as, he was a 12-year-old soldier with war time experience and the general of an army commissioned by heavenly beings.

"Jimmy!" He turned around slightly to see Cindy coming out of his house. It has been at least a week since Cindy's mother was confirmed dead due to Yolkian imprisonment. His own parents were still in Enforcer robot-operated hospitals along with almost all of the adults in Retroville, so until their recovery, Jimmy had the house to himself. And since Cindy's father was KIA in Operation: Desert Storm a few years ago and now her mother was dead, Cindy had decided to live with his family.

Jimmy smiled and got up, Goddard bounding off of his lap and settling for a dark corner of the porch. "Hey, Cindy." He looked at Cindy, once his fiercest rival and a pain in his ass, now the love of his life. She was wearing a professional-looking black, sleeveless dress which fit her form perfectly. "You look nice."

Cindy smiled and walked over to him. Cupping of his chin, she kissed him on the lips softly. "You don't look so bad yourself, General."

Jimmy smirked. He was dressed in full military uniform, the N-12 Enforcer version of it anyway. He had ordered the Enforcer Ordinance Division (or as Shaojia, his comrade from the war and a fellow Grand General, preferred to call them, 'the laziest jackasses on this side of Heaven') to have the Enforcer dress uniform set to a olive-green color. His personal icon, an atom with an electron cloud around it, sat on his shoulder epaulettes with 5 golden stars underlining it to signify his rank as a general.

"You ready?" Jimmy asked as he put his service cap back on his head. Another thing that had changed since the beginning of the war was Jimmy's infamous acorn hairdo. He had replaced it with a fashionable military crew cut that showed everyone that his head was actually normal sized while his hairdo was the thing that was planet sized.

Cindy smiled slyly and cocked her head back as if to think. "Well, I guess I could put on a little make-up. And maybe try another few dresses. And maybe-"

Jimmy grabbed her and held her close. "Don't. You look great as you are." His watch beeped. "Alright, we better get going if we don't want to be late." He turned to Goddard. "Be good, boy, we'll be back around 8. Your dinner's in the lab. Be good, alright?" Goddard barked affirmatively. With that, he tossed the keys to his hovercar up and down. He activated the garage door control and went in. After Cindy climbed, Jimmy floored the accelerator and they ascended before going straight for St. Abraham's Cathedral in Downtown Retroville.

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Due to whom Shaojia had refered to as the clean-up crew, the United States government was now fully aware of the Enforcers. They were also fully aware that they could not override any decisions Jimmy were to make and that he was forever running the show in times of nuclear armageddon. Along with that, several US Army divisions had been disptached to serve under the new, special N-12 Enforcer Branch of the US Military. This allowed for the 7 US Army Honor Guards which stood at attention, an M14 carbine held at their shoulders to be present along with another soldier with a bugle in his hand. 

Marcus 'Mark' Tanner's uncle, Travis Tanner, was a priest at St. Abraham's Cathedral. Along with his uncle, his parents were both well enough to carry on with Mark's funeral. Since Mark was an outdoorsman, his parents figured it would be fitting to have the entire funeral ceremony outdoors beside the gravesite, previously Chamber's Hill, now marked to become Enforcers' Final Haven Cemetary with Mark being the first to be buried there.

Mark's casket was close, half due to the fact that Mark had been badly injured in the war and there were no coroners that could patch him up good enough to be presentable, the other half due to the fact that Mark's mother couldn't bare the sight of seeing her son in the casket. A rosary of fresh flowers was placed on top of the coffin while several other flowers and similar arrangements surrounded the coffin.

Jimmy sat in the front row of the several rows of seats in which sat several of Mark's closest friends, classmates, and Ms. Fowl, whom Mark had been quite fond of. Next to him sat Cindy and a few seats down from her was Mark's parents, his aunt, and some brothers and sisters. His uncle Travis was still giving the eulogy along with blessing the land as a future burial site for other Enforcers.

Next to him sat Grand General Wang Shaojia, W-12, and Meiling, whom Shaojia had told him was more like his fiance instead of his girlfriend. After Father Tanners finished speaking, he looked over to Jimmy who looked at Shaojia. Both of them went to stand up. Like Jimmy, Shaojia was also wearing his military uniform, though his was pitch black and his general insignia was a dragon with 5 stars underneath it.

Shaojia stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he went to speak first while Jimmy stood to the side. Shaojia cleared his throat. "I never knew Mark, but I saw him on the battlefield. He was a brave kid, just like any Enforcer should be. He was a fighter, a good one in fact. He had exhibited great heroism in the field of battle. Some of his friends have told General Neutron and I that he had taken out at least 50 enemy soldiers before being killed in action after several enemy units surrounded him. He was a young boy, but as far as I am concerned, he fought like a man." The assembled crowd applaud softly as they continued to look at the casket of Mark Tanner.

Shaojia stepped to the side and Jimmy took his place. He coughed slightly and spoke into the podium. "I don't remember Mark much, but I remember that he was really a funny guy. He cracked jokes, played pranks on Principal Willoughby, did kid stuff. I didn't see too much of him in the battlefield, but when I did, I was impress of what I saw. I saw Mark, in Enforcer uniform, marching like a soldier, talking like a soldier, and overall being a soldier. He was a brave guy and he made me proud to know that he was in my Army."

Jimmy paused momentarily because he found himself getting caught up in his own speech. He blinked back a tear and continued.  
"So, it is my great honor and privilege to posthumously promote Private First Class Marcus Tanner to Sergeant and award him both the Enforcers' Purple Heart of Distinguished Sacrifice and the Enforcers' Medal of Honor." The crowd applauded once more as Shaojia handed Jimmy the boxes in which the medals and the insignia were in. Jimmy laid them on top of the casket.

Jimmy looked over at Nick who sat at the far left of the first row. Nick got up and carried a small, folded triangle. Nick was now dressed in a military dress uniform similar to Jimmy's. After he had gotten up, T, Libby's little brother, and another boy, both in a military dress uniform like the other N-12 soldiers present, followed Nick over to the metal pole to the right of the grave site. Nick handed the flag over to the soldiers who attatched the flag, a primarily red flag with Jimmy's golden atom symbol in the center and the Latin words _Pro Deus Nos Pugna _which translated to 'For God We Fight' underlining the atom. T and the other soldier hoisted the flag up for an instant before lowering it to half staff

Jimmy then looked over to the soldiers and nodded. Softly, Taps, the military funeral song, was played as the 7 soldiers directed their rifles into the sky and fired one shot, then another shot, and finally another shot. Meanwhile, Jimmy had carefully retrieved the medals and the insignia from the top of the casket. The pallbearers, all of which were Mark's closest friends, began to lower his casket into the ground as the song continued to play solemnly.

When the casket had touched the ground, the song had begun to come to a close and the pallbearers, trying to hold back their tears, began to shovel dirt over the coffin of their deceased friend and comrade. The funeral service began to wind to a close as the afternoon transitioned to early evening.

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After shaking hands and offering his apologies and deepest condolences to the Tanner family as well as saying goodbye to Shaojia and Meiling who were returning to W-12 that night, Jimmy yawned as he and Cindy returned home as well. They had stuck around for the Luncheon which Enforcer matter generation technology had provided for the funeral procession at St. Abraham's Cathedral. As a gift to the family of the deceased, Jimmy even offered the matter generator as a gift for the family or the church, which the Tanners graciously accepted. 

Still, Jimmy did not feel that his guilt had been alleviated. Cindy put her arms around him and held him tight as he unlocked the door. He looked over at Cindy and smiled softly. Now, his guilt for believing himself to have caused Mark's death had gone away only to be replaced with pity as he looked at his girlfriend. Cindy's mother's funeral would be tomorrow, but at the Forest Park Cemetary where her father was also inhumed.

Jimmy dipped his head down slightly to peck Cindy on the forehead. "You alright?" he asked as he closed the door behind them after they walked in. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Goddard sleeping on the couch in the living room.

As they walked upstairs, Cindy replied sadly, "Yeah, I was just thinking... If we could have gotten there sooner..."

Jimmy shook his head and kissed her again, except this time on the lips. "Don't..." he whispered. "There was no way. We did good, Cindy, and there's nothing more we could've done. Come on, we should get to sleep. We still got a lot of things ahead of us."


	3. Free Membership

**Chapter 3:**

**Free Membership**

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_"You know, I've been here for a while and even I don't know what the Hell's happening at times. First, I'm in the middle of a war and bullets are flying at me, then I'm on a transport portal headed back home, then I'm in the middle of some victory party, a lamp shade over my head, and then it's morning, one Helluva a hangover bashing my head in and some hot dame that I really hope is my wife lying next to me." --Santiago Castillo, C-42 _

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Jimmy sat at his family's breakfast table opposite of Cindy, dressed in the same black sportscoat and slacks as he had worn to his spy friend Jet Fusion's wedding, which turned out to be a trap along with a musical montage. It had been about 3 days since they had buried Cindy's mother in Forest Park Cemetary, and Cindy had yet to shake off some of the giref of seeing her mother lying in the casket. They had been able to get a hold of Cindy's aunt who happened to be a funeral curator in Houston. Jimmy had been able to convince Cindy's aunt that the reason there were no adults visible out in the city and why the funeral home was desolate was because there was an outbreak of a flu virus and a lot of people had come down with it. He also convinced her that Cindy's mom had died of the flu which was valid enough of an answer considering the poor condition Cindy's mother appeared in at the funeral. 

Cindy's aunt had brought along her husband, their 2 children, Cindy's grandma, and Cindy's uncle who lived in Dallas, who in turn brought along his wife and child. The funeral was a small, private one, but Jimmy was allowed to stay because Cindy had introduced him to her family as her boyfriend. After the funeral, Cindy's aunt had offered to let her stay with her, but Cindy declined, saying that Jimmy's family had taken very good care of her and she didn't want to leave Jimmy. After much arguement and one Hypnobeam blast, Cindy's family agreed to let Cindy stay with Jimmy.

"You alright?" Jimmy asked as he finished his sandwich.

Cindy nodded slightly as she toyed with the top piece of bread. "Yeah, just not too hungry."

Jimmy slid over towards her and put his arm over her shoulder. Picking up the sandwich, he brought it up to her mouth. "Come on, you need to eat. You've barely eaten anything for 3 days, Cindy."

Reluctantly, Cindy agreed and opened her mouth partially to allow herself to eat some of the sandwich. After chewing her food, she asked Jimmy, "So when are we supposed to leave?"

Jimmy checked his watched. It was now about 5:24 PM. "In about 6 minutes," Jimmy replied as he carried his plate to the sink while Cindy began to eat her food. He then leaned against the sink and looked at Cindy. "By the way, have I told you that you looked great today?"

Cindy smiled as she ate another spponful of cereal. "Really? I didn't notice. I just threw something on..."

Jimmy smirked as he walked over to Cindy who had now forgotten her late lunch. "Now, we both know that's a lie." It was obvious that it was. Cindy wore a jade green, sleeveless dress that fitted to her every curve. It was tantalizing to Jimmy's ever maturing mind, even more so as Cindy sat in front of the window, the dying sunlight filtering through just right to flow through her silky blonde hair all the while tanning her beautiful, pale skin.

Cindy felt Jimmy put his hand under her chin. She whispered slyly, "James Isaac Neutron, since when have you been such a romantic flirt?"

"Since I realized how much in love with you I am," he whispered back as he dipped in for a kiss. Before their lips even touched, the doorbell rang. "Great," Jimmy muttered.

As he turned to leave, Cindy grabbed him back and pulled him into her lips. They broke for air a few seconds later. "That's probably Shaojia and Meiling. Be nice."

Jimmy rolled his eyes and replied with a playful sarcasm, "Yes, dear." He then went to the door. Cindy was right, it was Shaojia and Meiling. "Hey guys!" He then looked past them and saw a black Toyota Corolla sitting in front of his house. "What's with the car?"

"They haven't finished bringing your universe's Enforcer haven all the way online, yet," Shaojia said as he took off the shades he wore over his eyes. He no longer wore the Manchurian braid that he had for the duration of the war and now had a simple buzzcut, much like Jimmy now had. This was no doubt a courtesy of Enforcer matter generation which could do anything from give you ammo to giving you a haircut or a hairgrow, depending how you wanted to have it that day.

Jimmy looked at Shaojia's choice of apparel for the day. "I thought you said we were going to a party." Shaojia was dressed in the military uniform he had worn for Mark Tanner's funeral, plus several campaign ribbons along with 6 Purple Hearts, 11 Medals of Honor, and 4 Distinguished Service Crosses. "Thought you'd dress a little less... professionally. And uptight. I mean, didn't you say we're going to a party?"

Shaojia nodded. "I guess I did. Then again, who said I liked parties?"

After greetings had been exchanged among the two couples, Shaojia got into the driver seat of the Toyota as Jimmy got into the side passenger seat. "Do you even know how to drive this thing?" Jimmy asked as he buckled up, their respective girlfriends sitting behind them in the back. He glanced nervouly at them, his eyes urging them to buckle up as well.

Shaojia simply replied, "Nope," as he twisted the key in the ignition and flipped down the sun visor. "I just know that I'm supposed to press the big red button." On the inside of the sun visor was, in fact, a big red button that was marked with the word 'Launch.' That did not put Jimmy's stomach at ease as Shaojia pressed the button. Soon, his entire vision was filled with bright, white light as the car lurched forward and they made the interuniversal trek towards the Enforcer Central High Command Headquarters.

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Jimmy yawned as he stepped out of the Toyota. "Wow, for a 3 second trip, that kinda takes the energy out of ya," he commented as the others got out of the car as well. 

Shaojia popped his neck and replied, "Eh, you'll get used to it." He then gestured around them. "Well, here we are. Heaven... Sorta. This is the part of Heaven that churches don't exactly advertise to you. Mostly because they, well, don't know that it exists."

Jimmy looked around the central hub of Enforcer Central High Command HQ. The building was about at as wide as an entire football stadium and was shaped like a spire, seeming to ascend to the Heavens themselves, despite the fact that it techinically already was in Heaven so in essence, it was ascending to itself... 'Eh, semantics,' Jimmy mused to himself.

Around the spire were a complex array of parking lots. Seperating each parking lot block, each of which could hold enough cars to probably put a Disney World parking lot to shame, was a moving walkway system that led to and from the main spire. However, it seemed that today, not many Enforcer bigwigs seemed to have shown up for work that day. Either that or they had already left, whether for home or for a lunch break Jimmy wasn't quite sure, as it was a tad bit late in the Enforcer workday which read, as displayed on several of the floating LCD screens that whimsically floated about around the ECHCHQ Spire, '15:54.'

Jimmy looked at the floating LCD clocks bemusedly. "How did they decide what time to display?"

Shaojia chuckled lightly as he and the others got onto one of the lanes of the moving walkwat which led them towards the spire. "It's a funny story, really; God decided to give that little task over to Santa who, along with Jesus and Buddha, decided to hold a poker tournament: a whole bunch of the higher up gods chose a time zone until all the timezones were filled, then the winner would have that time zone's standard time displayed throughout the plane on which High Command is based on. Some Aztec Sun God ended up winning and so we have US Pacific Time as official Enforcer time. Of course, they had to put it in military time, though, but eh, what can you do?"

Jimmy stared at him incredulously before busting out with laughter. "You know, Shaojia, I didn't think you were capable of jokes! That was- That was actually hilarious!"

Shaojia raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't joking."

Jimmy stopped mid-laugh, staring at Shaojia once more before sighing. "Why do I get the feeling that almost all major decisions are solved this way since arguement and debate are obviously above the gods?"

Shaojia shook his head and sighed with him. "Because they are. But, sometimes it ain't a poker tournament. Last Easter, Sheeva won the right to plan Lord Jesus' surprise Resurrection Day party and whatnot due to a holy game of craps, believe it or not."

Cindy coughed to get the boys' attention. "Ahem, now, before we go ahead with any more possibly blasphemis talk in God's military headquarters, which I never thought I'd have to say ever in my entire life, we're here."

Indeed they were. From afar, the spire's door didn't seem as daunting and frighteningly large as it did now, towering several feet over them. The door was simple, though. It only bore the uniform Enforcer emblem, an image of the Earth with angel wings on either side of it with a thunderbolt running down the middle of the Earth and underneath the Earth a creed in Latin. The door was obviously split right down the middle and on the right side of the divide was a keycard reception slot.

Shaojia took out from one of his military uniform's pockets his wallet. He then took out what appeared to be an ID card, the picture on it appearing more as Shaojia's mugshot than of what you would think an ID photo for a heavenly soldier would look like. He scanned the card quickly through the slot before returning it to the wallet. The door pulsed blue slightly, then white in recognition before splitting apart.

The interior of the spire's lobby was, to say the least, exstravagent, especially for God Soldiers. A giant fountain stood gallantly in the middle of the giant room, a golden rich liquid flowing from it. Around it, a circle of several receptionists desks faced outwards, the flags of each respective universe sitting on the desks as the secretaries from said universes sat dilligently conducting field operations. Elevators lined the walls, bellhops standing beside the entrance of each, also bearing the unique colors and insignia of each faction of Enforcer.

Shaojia sighed after the sounds of flesh slapping flesh reached their ears, drawing the attention of several secretaries and incoming Enforcers. He looked over pointedly to the W-12 Secretary's desk where his Oath Brother Li Paosung, hailing from the Li clan of Fujian Province, long since overtaken by the rebellious Southern Chang Dynasty. Though his family was well respected, he was anything but respectable as he had seemed to indulge early on into the beauty of the opposite sex. Unfortunately for his clan, he was the last of their line and at the rate he seemed to be going...

"Paosung," he muttered darkly as the group approached the W-12 desk. "What did you do now?"

... It looked more than likely that it was going to stay that way.

Paosung and the secretary, who appeared to be around 11, about Paosung's age, were still out of hearing range of them, though. Paosung rubbed his red and sore cheek with a nervous laugh as he remarked, "Wow, a feisty one! You know, you really are my kinda woman. So waddya say? Deal's still up. You, me, dinner for two, maybe a little fun in a-" His response was another slap across the face from the indignant young woman. "Eh, I'll give you some time to think about it."

Shaojia shook his head in disdain as the quarry approached his Oath Brother. "Paosung, you jackass, what the Hell are you doing?" he whispered sharply as he grabbed Paosung by the collar and held him against a nearby pillar.

Paosung grinned widely. "Shaojia! Nice of you to stop by!"

Shaojia grimaced as he released his hold on Paosung's Italian-tailored sportscoat and waved his hand in front of his nose. "Little Brother, have you been drinking?"

"Nope!" Paosung chirped. He then looked back at the young woman who was blushing in embarassment and anger. "Unless, of course, by drinking, you mean have I become intoxicated by this charming young lady's marvelous beauty." The young girl's blush darkened, this time in sheer embarassment.

Shaojia shook his head. "Yep, you're drunk. Or stupid, I can never tell which." He turned to the secretary, who had attempted to return to her natural facial color before falling under his gaze. 'Crap, now she recognizes me,' he thought in annoyance as the young woman bowed her head.

"Your Highness," she muttered softly, touching her head to her desk. A couple of passer-bys made curious looks over at them as they went about their business at the Enforcer capital. "Please forgive my behavior. I had no idea that this man-"

Shaojia waved his hand abruptly. "No problem. You did nothing wrong. He was being a rude jackass anyways. Now, get up and get back to work. When General Tian finally gets here, send him up to the main ballroom upstairs."

The secretary bowed briefly again before turning to the computer screen nearby, trying as hard as possible to not focus on the young emperor before her or his Oath Brother. Shaojia then turned his attention to Paosung. Grabbing him by the ear, he yanked him by the ear and motioned for the others to follow.

"Agh! Hey-Watch it-Stop!" Paosung's pleas fell on deaf ears as Shaojia continued to drag him by his ear as they went to the elevator. Eventually, Paosung stopped whining and settled for grunting until Shaojia had reached the elevator and called for it. That was when the annoyed emperor had released his Oath Brother, who immediately began to try and rub the pain out of his tortured ear. "The Hell was that for, Da Ge?"

"For being an idiot," Shaojia replied sharply, ignoring the fact that he had an audience, the two Americans rather amused by the show. "Can you be any more of an ass? Honestly, Paosung-si-di, hitting on the secretary during work hours? At least wait 'till after hours. That way, she won't get a discharge for kicking your ass to C-1 and back."

Paosung grumbled incoherently as they waited for their lift. "Well, look who's talking? No disrespect, Brother, but you've already had yourself a woman since before your testicles could drop and neither of you even knew it. How can you give me dating advice when you've never dated another woman in your-"

Shaojia's eyes narrowed as his hand went for Paosung's throat. He squeezed it lightly but threateningly. "That's enough," he said coldly as he glanced over to Meiling who had begun to grow uncomfortable as Paosung's tirade went on. Paosung followed his firend and Oath Brother's gaze before bowing his head in shame. "One of the reasons me and Meiling are together because we both respect each other. If you can stop thinking with your crotch for more than 10 minutes, then maybe you might be able to woo a girl long enough for her to ignore your horrible pick-up lines."

Paosung narrowed his eyes as well. "Hey, I worked hard on those!"

"It doesn't show," Meiling muttered as she inched closer towards Shaojia. She wrapped her petite arms around his waist and whispered, "Let him go, Shaojia, he was just frustrated."

Shaojia made no motion towards Meiling but said, "I know, but that doesn't mean he can go around disrespecting his sister-in-law like that. Idle joking I can make due with, but-"

"Sister-in-law?" Paosung wondered as Shaojia's grip loosened enough for him to back away from it. His eyes then widened in realization and lecherous glee as he patted Shaojia on the back. "That's great, Shaojia! When's the wedding?"

Shaojia once again grabbed Paosung by the collar and held him close to his face, whispering something to him that no one else could hear, but the last part sounded like an angry, rushed, 'Got it?' Paosung nodded after that and Shaojia put him down. He then said for everyone to hear, "I don't know, but I've got to settle some things back at the homeland first."

Paosung nodded as he glanced over at the elevator. 'Christ, how long is that thing gonna take?' He then said to Shaojia, more solemnly than before, "Things haven't gotten any better, but at least they haven't gotten any worse."

Shaojia crossed his arms. "Who's in charge now?"

"No one, your father--God rest his sould--Anyways, your father's most senior general Ci Shan got whacked yesterday, causes unknown, but I think that it was by some of Yu Fong's men, who's now emperor, by the way. You remember Yu Fong, don't you?"

Shaojia nodded. "I remember. He was my father's financial minister and a professional brown noser. I never liked him when I was growing up in the Forbidden City. So what, are all of my father's old cabinet dead now, that why a pitiful bastard like Yu Fong is emperor?"

Paosung shook his head. "Almost all. There's that Chief Advisor, never remembered his name-"

"Me neither," Shaojia added.

"-But that's all that's left, I think. Yep, that's all. Now, all Northern Chang has left is some of the generals that keep popping up around the capital instead of staying out by the battlefronts." Paosung stared hardenedly at Shaojia. "The country needs a leader, Shaojia."

Shaojia nodded slowly. "I know. I'll fill you in on some new details when I get a chance." As if on cue, the soft 'ding' of the elevator reached all of their ears. A few men in business suits walked out of the elevator, eyeing the children before them with skepticism and confusion before going about their business. Everyone then piled in. He then turned to Jimmy and Cindy. "Sorry to bore you with Chinese politics."

Jimmy waved his hand. "It's alright. There hasn't been anything good on TV anyways, and some of the kids in the A/V club aren't the best actors in the world either. Let's not even try to mention newscasting."

Cindy nodded. "Besides, it actually is kinda interesting. So when are you planning on taking back the throne, Shaojia?"

Shaojia shrugged as he pressed a floor number and the elevator rose. "Don't know, but I hear rumors that the Tang Empire's armies are weak from a recent drought, so I want to get back ASAP to neutralize the army, secure the Tang capital, and then use heavenly influence to make it rain a little bit. Sure, some can see it as an abuse of power, but hey, I've been given a temporary pink slip so I can make sure that no more of my people suffer."

"The gods fired you?" Jimmy asked incredulously. "Why would they do that?"

Shaoia shook his head. "No, they didn't fire me, not exactly. They asked me to resign so I wouldn't have any binding obligation to come back for another pointless war that someone else can damn well handle. They've actually bumped my universe's armed forces off of the 'Those people that help the armed but pitiful idiots' list so my men can get rest, too. Pretty much, think of me as on a company vacation."

"Except we don't get paid," Paosung muttered. "I really am gonna miss my old bachelor pad."

"Brother," Shaojia said exhasperatedly, "Your 'bachelor pad' back home is a crappy little hut barely the size of your bathroom here."

Paosung shrugged. "Hey, I liked the simple life."

Shaojia groaned in annoyance. "Alright, I guess I can tell all the palace attendants to not wake you in the mornings, not make you breakfast, not cater to your every insane whim, keep you room a pigsty, have you live in a treehouse outside of the Forbidden City-"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Paosung muttered as he ran his bionical right hand, which he had lost in a war long past and had a black glove to hide the eerie robotics underneath. "It's just that it's something you need time to get used to."

Shaojia put his hands on Paosung's shoulders and shook him lightly. "Look, if it'll make you feel any better, you can have all the concubines the Court wants me to have." He pulled Meiling closer to him. "It's not as if I'd want them anyways," he said, staring deeply at Meiling who felt a shudder go down her spine.

Cindy smiled at the two as she leaned lightly against Jimmy who put his arms unconsciously around her waist. Paosung looked from both scenes of couple-snuggling, Cindy leaning affectionately into Jimmy and Meiling metaphorically and perhaps even literally melting under his Oath Brother's gaze, and forced the bile to stay down. "I think I might be sick," he muttered.

Shaojia slapped him upside the head. "Shaddup. Once you meet a lady that you love and respect enough to marry before you feel the urge to take her to bed, you'll get it. Now, stop thinking with your dick and come on. We got a meeting to get to."

Meiling rolled her eyes. "Oh, real nice language to use around other children, especially when you're at work. In God's house."

"This ain't His house," Shaojia grumbled as he marched off the elevator. "The elevators there are roomier."

"Like you've been there," Paosung muttered as he got followed.

"And you have?"

"No, but neither have you, so there."

"One more word, Brother, one more word, and next chance I get, me and Quanbei are going to fill your bed with spiders. Ya hear me? How'd you like to be up to your neck in tarantulas?"

"... That was low, a-Shaojia-ge. Real low. You know I hate those things!"

"Quit whinin', ya big baby."

Cindy and Jimmy looked at the three Chinese with bemused expression, all of their thoughts centralized around Paosung's overly-Hollywood sense of romance with extreme overtones of sex (which made the two of them blush once their minds garnered around the fact that they were living in the same house and would have to for the next several years) plus his apparent arachnaphobia, Meiling's sudden transformation of shy farm-girl to happy, giddy, and a lot of other things even the two geniuses couldn't exactly name, and Shaojia's complete and utter contempt of the fact that his Oath Brother was a perverted idiot, he was about to be canned, and voluntarily so to boot, and his use of extremely vulgar and crude language in a building literally in Heaven and in the presence of not-so-but-still-very-innocent minds.

"Do you think it'll be that bad?" Cindy asked as she and Jimmy got off the elevator. "Shaojia's a bit uptight about the whole party thing."

Jimmy shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't think so. I think Shaojia's just being his usual uptight-self. He doesn't really look like a party-person anyways, you know?" he joked mildly.

Cindy smiled as they followed the trio up ahead at a reasonable distance, keeping their respective conversations isolated from each other. "Yeah, you're right. I can't exactly imagine Shaojia getting up onto a DJ booth with a lamp shade over his head, dancing his butt off."

Jimmy chuckled. "Yeah, I can't either." He then looked over to Shaojia. "I have to admit, though. He really does have my respect. He's gone through this more times than me, so maybe he does know what he's talking about."

Cindy looked over at him sadly. "Jimmy, please don't turn out like him. I talk to Meiling sometimes and sometimes she even says that he's so... cold. So distant. So traumatized." With the puppy-dog eyes that women everywhere could always muster up, she begged, "Please don't turn out like him. I remember the war. You became so angry. So volatile. I kept thinking I'd lose you. The you that you were before that stupid war. The you that I loved so much."

Jimmy pecked her quickly on the cheek as they continued to walk down the hall and rounded a corner before quickly rounding another as they followed Shaojia, Meiling, and Paosung. "Don't worry. I'll always be me for you. I promise."

Cindy smiled at him before catching Meiling's glance that obviously said, 'Follow me.' Cindy nodded subtly and walked towards Meiling. Once she reached her, Meiling said to everyone, "I'm going to go freshen up a little. Cindy, wanna come with me?"

"Sure," Cindy replied, shooting Jimmy a glance as he went over to stand beside Shaojia, the two of them sharing a confused glance.

As the two women walked away, Paosung put his arms around both Jimmy and Shaojia's shoulders from behind and congratulated, "You lucky bastards."

* * *

"You lucky bastards," Paosung joked as he sat at the W-12/N-12 joint table. The party had started roughly 2 hours ago. Now, the room was packed with what were commonly referred to as proper Enforcers, the Enforcers that were over the age of 18. Like his Oath Brother, he too held a dislike for such Enforcer parties since him and his comrades were always treated at age level. As far as the adults in the room were concerned, they were probably somebody's kids whose parents couldn't trust to leave at home with a babysitter. 

Paosung's remark was directed wryly to the fact that Shaojia now had the misfortune of introducing Jimmy to several of the highest-ranking Enforcer of each universe. Thankfully, not all of them had been able to attend, some out of choice, others out of inconvenience, and others still out of service as some were still out in the frontlines. Jimmy, on the other hand, had to persevere as each Enforcer, usually accompanied with a wife or a girlfriend or a similar lady of the evening, shook his hand forcefully, commented on his youth, and asked if he would like to quit anytime soon.

Quanbei, who had arrived about 15 minutes before the party started, chuckled in response to Paosung's comment. "Yeah, they sure are." He motioned over to Jimmy. "Jimmy's hand must be hella sore by now, eh?"

Paosung raised a curious eyebrow. "You're on a first name basis with him? That was quick."

Quanbei shrugged. "Eh, what can I say, I respect the kid a lot. I saw him fight, and if I can borrow our older brother's words, 'I don't know what the Hell 'It' is, but he's got 'It.'"

Beside him, a young woman roughly a month or so younger than Quanbei giggled and laid her head on his chest. "Oh, you know you're just a big softy, honey."

Quanbei rolled his eyes. "Right, right, remind me again why I felt that it was a good idea to bring you to anymore of these damn things, Yue?"

Yue, who Paosung knew was Quanbei's wife (despite their young age, their influence coupled along with Shaojia's had been able to 'persuade' the local matchmaker to allow the union so long as nothing too intimate occurs), smacked Quanbei's chest lightly. "Because I'm your wife, that's why. And stop swearing! We're in God's house!"

"You should listen to her, Brother," Paosung snickered lightly as he downed another glass of water.

"I'd usually tell you how far I'd shove my boot up your ass, but since we're at a civil setting and I'm not wearing my boots, I'll do it later," Quanbei muttered as he watched Shaojia and Jimmy make their way back over to the group with their respective dates in tow, all equally exhausted. "Now, was it all that bad?"

Shaojia simply glared at Quanbei evily while Jimmy let out an exhasperated sigh. "Christ, I can't believe these people." He turned to Shaojia. "And I'm working with them?"

"Unfortunatley," Shaojia nodded. "But only a little bit. I talked with some of the people around here that don't give a damn if I'm 4, 16, or 89, so long as I can fight. They respect me enough to tell me that things are starting to quiet down a little bit everywhere. Even our most hostile places like S-1 are starting to cool off. Sure it has me worried, but hey, what can you do, eh? Anyways, this might be one of the last time you'll see any of these asshats for a while, so just stay with the program a little longer."

"Remind me why we're here again?" Cindy muttered as she leaned into Jimmy, rubbing her throbbing temples as all of the female Enforcers or the male Enforcers' dates continuous cheek-pinching, age-commenting, and other such actions continued to take its toll on her patience.

"To get the two of you properly introduced," Shaojia muttered. "Senate seats, delegations, embassies, all the crap that I hate doing."

"Wait, say what?" Jimmy remarked. "Senates? Delegations? Wait, the Enforcers are the US Congress now? I thought we were a cross between the Army and the Special Forces."

"And Congress. And the Peace Corps. And in fact, every other thing that no one really wants to do all the time at the same time," Shaojia replied flatly. "By the way, when we introduce you to everyone, there'll be this Russian guy, Vladmir Takovonovich, T-2, Guy's big as a bull and he's one of the more... normal fellas around here. He's also very sympathetic with the small handful of child-led Enforcer legions around here, about 6 of 'em now, including both of ours, so when word reached that fella's ears..." He made an exaggerated hand motion that seemed to gesture the whole room. "He set up the biggest banquet he could have set up and invited everybody and their cousin to meet the new kid." He patted Jimmy lightly on the arm. "Hey, there he is now." He then whispered. "Careful about what you say about Russia. In his univese, the Soviets won the Cold War, which actually became a war, and most of the US is nuclear slag except for Alaska and Hawaii and parts of the Southeast. The rest of the world seems close to a utopia, though, I gotta say."

Vladmir Takovonovich, 47, was indeed a very big man. Standing at perhaps 6'11" and looking to weigh about 400 pounds, the Russian had a youthful and merriful face hidden behind his bushy handlebar mustache which was speckled with gray. His head was completely bald and his sportscoat barely hid the bear-like muscles hidden underneath. The man was indeed the picture of a Russian Bear; giant, intimadating, and strong, but also kind and caring... if you didn't piss it off of course.

"Comrade!" Vladmir bellowed, his voice carrying well over the elegant music that played. His voice didn't carry as much of a Russian accent as Jimmy had expected the burly man to have, and was in actuality a mix between Russian and Scottish accents, if such a mix were possible. "So this is the crazy Yank that just joined God's Army?"

Shaojia nodded as he got up to salute the man. "Yes he is. Good to see you again, old pal."

Vladmir saluted back before pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "You crazy _svoloch_, I thought you'd gotten yourself killed again! You know, I came by your place a couple of weeks ago and boy was I surprised the whole place was practically empty!"

Shaojia patted Vladmir slightly on the back to signify that his back was probably about to break. The Russian smiled apologetically as Shaojia popped his back into place, several cracks reaching Jimmy's ears, making him cringe internally. Whether as a cruel joke or as simple courteous behavior, Shaojia then chose to introduce the man that had nearly dislocated his spine to Jimmy. "Speaking of which, the crazy Yank's name is James Isaac Neutron, N-12."

Jimmy barely had time to acknowledge the fact that Shaojia had used Jimmy's full name before he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug once again administered by the Russian. "Nice to meet you, finally, Comrade! Comrade Shaojia has told me a lot about you, you crazy Yank! Took out an alien general, stole his axe, killed a scientist in a robot suit, took down a kingdom, killed a king, and killed a psycho! Hell, beats my first time, you brave little _trimandoblydskiy pizdoproyob_! Hey, we're all soldiers, right! How about you fellas ditch the little ladies and we'll hit the bar!"

Shaojia chuckled before Jimmy could respond, not that he could as he was still recovering from recently being released from Vladmir's death grip. "Maybe later, Comrade. But not tonight. Jimmy here probably wants to get inducted as soon as he can so we can all get the Hell outta here."

The large Russian seemed slightly disappointed before brightening up instantly. Bellowing over the small conversations and music of the room, Vladmir soon had everyone's attention. "Hey! Let's get this over with! I wanna get drunk!" Though blunt and highly inappropriate, the crowd did settle down and began to take their seats. Vladmir motioned for all of the children to follow him as he walked towards the podium. "Alright Comrades, let's get on with this. I am pleased to officially introduce to you the newest Enforcer leader."

* * *

Jimmy and Cindy got home at roughly 10 o'clock at night. The 'party' had gone on for another hour, but while it had ended at 8 in Enforcer Land, it was 10 in Retroville time. Exhausted, irritated, and hungry, the first thing Jimmy did after they got in and closed the door was to toss his sportscoat onto the coat hangar, kick off his shoes, and collapse face first onto the couch. Cindy didn't even bother taking off her shoes as she followed him onto the couch.

"So hungry," she muttered as she lay against Jimmy's back. Jimmy's reply was a strange muffle. "What?"

With all the strength he had left, he pushed himself up on the couch just enough so his head was no longer pressed into the couch cushion and said more clearly, "So tired. Sleep now. Eat later." Then, his arms failed him and he fell back into the couch.

"Agreed," Cindy muttered as her strength fled her as well, sleep overpowering her hunger as well as she drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, Jimmy still had a small ounce of energy left, but just barely. He got up and pushed Cindy off of him before turning around, facing upwards instead of downwards on the couch, and laid Cindy properly against him. He reached into his slacks' pocket and pulled out a small badge in its case, making it remarkably similar to a stereotypical FBI or detective's badge.

He opened the black, leather cover to reveal the inside. On the left was a plastic ID. It had obviously been taken at some during the party as he didn't remember the picture ever being taken before. However, it was handed to him at the party... He decided it was due to the mystical workings of Enforcer technology and didn't bother thinking more about its sudden origins. In short, the ID picture looked slightly like Shaojia's, a mugshot of him from the shoulders up. He was now very glad that he had gotten rid of, and will now more than likely outgrow forever, his old ice cream scoop hairstyle that had once been iconic of him as well as a subject of ridicule. Thinking about it, he concluded that they wouldn't have been able to fit all of it into the ID, just like in all of his old school yearbook photos.

He looked over to the right of the badge case. That was where the badge itself was, attatched sideways so that its long side was adjacent to the case's long side. The badge looked to be made out of a solid gold alloy. The Enforcers' Latin creed ran along either side of the center, the phrase split. The Earth, Wings, and Thunderbolt symbol took up the main insignia portion of the badge in the center. Under the center, his full name was displayed proudly and on the top, bordered on either side by two mini thunderbolts, his rank was displayed, 'Grand General'.

He practiced what Shaojia and Vladmir had taught him to do, to flash the badge very quickly like a government agent. Once he was older, Shaojia had tol him, he'd be able to use the badge to get him into more restricted areas in his universe and many other universes. He then put his badge back into his pocket and let sleep take him. It had been a long day.


	4. Taking What's Mine

**Chapter 4:**

**Taking What's Mine **

**Author's Note: This entire chapter is spoken entirely in Mandarin, just so you know. **

* * *

_"Sometimes, if you want something in life, you've gotta take it." King Guillermo Franco-Muniz III, Spanish king in T-4 _

* * *

Shaojia finished tacking the sack of Chinese _yuan_ coins onto the wall of the hut that he and Meiling used to live in and had grown up in for the last 7 or 8 years. It had been roughly a week since that stupid party down at Enforcer Central. But that was old news. While also old news, it was only as of two days ago that Shaojia had officially declared himself as in temporary retirement per Heaven's Mandate as far as Enforcer military service went. After his speech, most, if not all of his soldiers were distraught with the fact that General Tian Quanbei had stepped down as well, along with Li Paosung who's leadership of the W-12 Enforcer labs has led to several actually useful inventions. 

In his speech he encouraged that all of the soldiers take a long and hard vacation, to focus on the simpler things in life. Though he did not reveal his plans to take back the throne, he did say that his soldiers should invest in good education so that they can pass the Imperial Court Exams, which determined the leaders of courts, cities, provinces, and even regions throughout China. He had said that after the wars that have ravaged the lands, the Middle Kingdom would need a new surge of leadership everywhere which would would have to come from the most knowledgeable leaders.

Driving the crudely crafted metal nail into the hut's bamboo door frame, Shaojia tucked the note delicately over the bag. The note would state his true identity, not the false identity he had provided to the villagers that he was an orphan who's uncle owned a small piece of land nearby but passed away shortly and that Meiling was his little sister. The note then went on to say that the money contained in the bag was to repay the village for their kindness and to repent for his lies, and was to be spread equally by the village headmaster to the entire village population, per his mandate. Not a single part of the Imperial Jade _yuan_ coins, an exceptionally high valued class of the Chinese_ yuan_ currency, was to be used selfishly by the headmaster, the total adding up to be equal to about US$500,000. It had been a major dent in Shaojia's bank account, but considering what his plan was, it wouldn't matter if he had given away his entire Enforcer bank account along with every paycheck he collected from that point after.

"Ready?" Shaojia asked Meiling, who was sitting on the horse Shaojia owned on his small property.

Meiling looked around, the slowly rising sun shining at her backside and filtering through the light blue cheongsam dress she had chosen to wear, intricate designs crossing across her body. She nodded reluctantly. "I'm gonna miss this place..."

Shaojia grabbed the reins and lifted himself onto the saddle, placing himself in front of her. "We'll come back every now and then. If it's one thing I hate about politicians here, there, and everywhere is that they never think about the little guy. Well for the last 7 years, I've lived like the little guy and I know what the people want."

She only smiled as she laid her head against the robed backside of Shaojia. He wore a personally woven Imperial garment that clearly marked his status as prince, made by the most skilled seamstress in the W-12 Enforcer District, Seamstress Tien. The robe itself was rather light yet extravagent. Dragons encompassed the entire backside, golden stitching on black-died silk. In the crisp cool Tienshang air, the silk felt softer than usual on his skin and as Meiling snuggled further into his back, he could tell that she liked it too.

He snapped the reins of the horse and he set off north for the Forbidden City, capital of China. The trip would take about three days but then again, he was three days early.

* * *

Tian Quanbei let his horse trot slowly as he approached the outer gates of Beijing. Inside the city, the true capital of China, the Forbidden City, which was simply an elaborate and very large palace in Beijing's heart, resided. He stopped beside tan outcropping of trees just outside the city's gates and out of site of the city's guards. 

A soft rustling on the saddle drew his attention. He glanced over his shoulder to see his beloved wife Yue stir slightly from the sleep that the short ride from their insertion point had put her in. Thanks to his connections with the Enforcers, he had secured transport to a small clearing not so far from the capital, about 45 miles or so. He watched as his wife, a woman he had fallen in love with since the moment they met in a trench during the Y-9 Civil War, drift back to sleep.

He looked down to his left. One of Shaojia's personal bodyguards, Jiang, stood there dressed in the uniform of an Imperial guard. The red, bamboo sunhat that adorned his head prevented Quanbei from seeing the man's face, but he knew from experience and frequent visits to his Oath Brother's home in their Enforcer District that Jiang was scanning the area.

"Jiang," Quanbei said as Jiang looked up, "help my wife dismount, lay out a blanket, and set her down. She could use the rest and I have to go use the restroom. The rest of your men can relax as well. Just keep on a lookout for His Highness."

Jiang bowed before turning to some other guards. It had been decided the day before that Quanbei would be in charge of the small security force for the first few days in the palace, and Shaojia would trust no one more than his own personally hired bodyguards, who had been more than estatic when their employer had declared that he was now their emperor and that they would be serving him now. So, the 20-strong contingent of young guards, the oldest being 12-year-old Jiang who was almost 13 in about a month, had followed Quanbei out of the Enforcer Insertion Site (or EIS as it was referred to in the Enforcer Reconnaisance and Intelligence Bureaus of all universes).

As Jiang ordered two other guards to help lift Yue off the horse and do as Quanbei had ordered, Quanbei thought as to how he had referred to his very own Oath Brother. Though it was proper as they were not related by blood, though he would have to address him the same way regardless of his relationship to him, it was still something to get used to when he had to refer to Shaojia, a man he had gone drinking with several times as well as fought in trenches and battlefields and in space with countless times, as His Highness.

However, Shaojia had made it very clear that no matter what happened, he and Paosung were still his brothers, and that in closed doors, they could refer to each other however they pleased, but for the sake of pleasing the old geezers in the court, honorifics were required to keep the ministers happy.

"General!" Quanbei's attention snapped to the direction of the voice. It was Hong, a young man at about the age of 11. He glared at him sharply as his eyes went over to his wife. Luckily, she was sitll sleeping.

"What?" Quanbei snapped as he dismounted his horse, his hand flying to the sword that was affixed to his hip. Despite not being in an active war, Quanbei had chosen to wear his armor anyways, just to make a clear statement to the Court when they saw him that he was Shaojia's right hand general.

Hong swallowed dryly and reported after he went into a kowtow, "Lord Li Paosung has been sightedapproaching fromour rear, sir. Shall we send an escort to bring him to our position?"

His other Oath Brother, Li Paosung, had always been a smart individual, book smart anyways, and it was no surprise to Quanbei when Shaojia had appointed him as his chief advisor and strategist, more or less his chancellor. Quanbei nodded to the soldier. "Watch my wife and take me to him. I have a few things to talk to him about."

Hong nodded. He barked at a couple of guards that were slumped against a tree trying to relax. They jumped to their feet and formed the sides of an arrowhead on either side of Quanbei as Hong formed the tip, leading the group to meet with Paosung. They walked for roughly 5 minutes when Quanbei saw his Oath Brother riding on a strapping black mare, dressed in billowing ministerial robes.

Quanbei looked at the guards and then at Paosung before saying to Hong, "I'd like to talk to Lord Li Paosung in private, Hong. Go back to the others, I'll meet up with you there. Remember to keep an eye out for His Highness." With that, the guards left.

Paosung dismounted, the cuffs of his billowing blue robe reaching his knees as he put his arms inside them. "What, no 'hello', bro?" he asked as soon as he was sure the guards were out of earshot.

"Shaddup," Quanbei muttered as he grabbed Paosung's horse's reins. "What took you so long anyways? Kept tripping over your robes?"

Paosung blushed slightly before regaining his composure. "I might have." He lifted his arms in disgust to indicated the robe sleeves as well as gesture to the entire robe itself. "By the gods, how do they expect you to do anything in these robes?"

"They, whoever they are," Quanbei commented, "don't expect you to do anything but shut up, look pretty for the painters, and say a few wise and inspirational words every once and a while like a good politician while everyone else does your dirty work."

Paosung shook his head at his brother's remark. They began to go back to where Quanbei had set down. "I just think that I look too much like Zhuge Liang in this damn thing, and we all know how well things went for Shu-Han."

Quanbei shook his head. "Nah, you're missing the fan and the wheelchair-thing. Oh, and the hat. And stop being so damn superstitious. Brother Shaojia is the emperor now, so we've got nothing to worry about. If the other kingdoms want to bring the fight to us, we'll bring the cruise missiles to them."

Paosung rolled his eyes as he whipped his Manchu braid over his shoulder and onto his back as opposed to where it was wrapped around his neck to prevent it from getting dity. "Yeah, but I think even Shaojia'll find it kinda hard to rule craters and human body parts. Now, if its the Japs we're fighting..."

Quanbei held up his hand as a preemptive strike. "Don't even go there. Honestly, I have no idea what you got against them. Sure, they've wanted to take over a couple of times, but it ain't our problem. We're aligned with Northern Chang, not Eastern Ming, so we don't got nothing to worry about. It's the Ming's problem. See, that's why I said it was a bad idea to name a kingdom, or dynasty for that matter, after one that already existed. Tang's gonna get hit bya drought soon, Ming's being pressured by Jap pirates, and Southern Chang's got some malaria thing going on, passed up from 'Nam and the other places around there."

"Whatever you say," Paosung said as the small camp came into view. "So, His Higness is really going for it this time, eh?" he asked, slipping back to unconscious Imperial etiquette.

Quanbei nodded as he took a seat beside his wife. "Yes. His Imperial Majesty the Emperor has told me that he wants to give the other kingdoms about a year to surrender before we take any military action."

Paosung shook his head. "He told me the same thing, but I didn't recommend it. As His Majesty's advisor, I told him that only Tang would surrender and that's because they've already hit a famine and the dry season's approaching. And even then, Southern Chang will probably invade them before their messenger even comes to the Forbidden City with the surrender letter."

Quanbei nodded. "Yes, and I told him that Ming is very close to total war with Japan and if we attack them and close off their ports, we'll more than likely anger Japan and get into a war with them and I don't think a nuclear strike on them would be very appreciated by the gods. But that's saying that we get to the Ming before the Southern Chang do. Then, they'll have to inherit the war. I think that's what His Majesty's planning, to let out enemies beat themselves up before we sweep in for the kill."

"There will be as little killing as possible," a voice bellowed from the woods. All around them, the bodyguards dropped to their knees in reverrent kowtow as Shaojia approached atop a great, white steed. Pressed into his back was Meiling, fast asleep like Yue was before. "That goes for my plan for the country and my plan for taking the throne back. For the country, the more civillians still alive, the richer our economy and the less they are likely to revolt. For the throne, the less guards and ministers we have to kill, the less people we'll have to replace."

Quanbei and Paosung kowtowed as well. Again Quanbei felt awkward bowing to his own Oath Brother, reminding him of when they had first met and had formed their pact, but court traditions were unmaleable. "Your Highness," Quanbei said as he looked up from his place on the ground.

He caught the glint of annoyance in Shaojia's eyes. Like everyone else, Shaojia appeared human as to not scare the more ignorant and weak-minded humans. Again, Quanbei was glad that he wasn't in Japan. He had heard rumors of an epic war going on between the humans and the demons, of both pure and mixed heritage, that had gone on since the beginning of time.

Shaojia dismounted his horse, carrying Meiling in his arms. "Rise," he commanded. He turned to Jiang, the oldest guard, and said as he passed Meiling over to him, "Choose 5 of your best men and guard the women until the rest of us come back. I don't know whether or not we'll have a welcome reception, but it's better to prepare for a hostile one and look foolish then prepare for a peaceful one and end up dead."

Jiang nodded and barked to a few other men. "Yes, Your Holiness."

Shaojia nodded. He pointed to the rest of the men. "Form up and lead the way. I have something to discuss with my general and my chancellor." The guards all kowtowed once more before melding into the forest and forming up on its edge. Shaojia motioned for Quanbei and Paosung to get back on their horses before he got back on his. As much as he despised looking like a bratty politician, the court wouldn't be too impressed with a so-called emperor that walked, talked, and acted like a commoner.

The guards held a loose arrowhead-formation just barely out of hearing range of Shaojia and his brothers. "So this is the Forbidden City, eh?" Paosung opened as they all gazed at the illustrious gates of Beijing.

"Not yet, Paosung," Shaojia said as he shifted his gaze to the guards patrolling the front gate. "We've got to get past those guards first, and without killing them. And then the guards inside Beijing. And then the guards outside Meridian Gate. And then the guards inside the Forbidden City, too."

Quanbei shook his head. "I liked it better when we could just kill people. It didn't require that much diplomacy."

Paosung saw that the gate guards were now confronting the adolescent bodyguards of Shaojia. "Brother, want me to break the ice?"

Shaojia nodded. "I'll lead then you announce. Just like the movies."

With a nod, the three pulled the reins on their horse and shot forward slightly, just enough to get between the two groups of guards. "Halt! Who dares wear the clothing of the Imperial Guards, the armor of the Generals, the robes of the Chancellor, and the robes of His Imperial Majesty the Yongshou Emperor," the lead guardsman commanded, sword drawn.

Paosung urged his horse forward a step. "His Majesty the Emperor returns from his exile. Lay down your swords and let His Majesty through!"

"How dare you, you impudent little twirp!" another guard roared. "No one is allowed to claim the title of emperor other than the emperor Himself and our current emperor is none other than His Imperial Majesty the Yongshou Emperor Himself!"

Shaojia rode forward. "Tell me, guard captain, what happened to the emperor before His Imperial Majesty came to power?"

"You do not know?" the lead guardsman responded incredulously. He then sighed and muttered, "Of course you wouldn't, you're all dressed in clothing that could get you executed so you all must be insane." Taking a deep breath, he explained, "When the Late Emperor Quanlong and Empress Qihua passed, their son,the Eldest Prince, and only prince might I add, gods forgive me, was overwhelmed by such grief that he ran away from the Forbidden City. He was very young and the next morning, the guards, me included, found the bodies of several bandits in the woods near here and blood. We feared that His Highness of Premature Reign had been captured and killed."

"Why are you telling these children all of this, Captain?!" one of the guards demanded. The other guards murmured angrily in agreement.

"Because I asked him to," Shaojia replied. "And Captain Zhong, formerly Sergeant Zhong when I first left the Forbidden City, knew who I was the moment he saw my sword."

The guard captain, Zhong, stepped back in surprise. He then noticed the Shaojia's sword for the first time, the sword made famous by Shaojia's father, the Emperor Quanlong, posthumously known as The Founding Chang Emperor of Civil and Martial Priority who observes the Path with Admirable poise but was Lamentable for his Death and the Death of his Spouse and Child.

Zhong fell into a kowtow immediately as Shaojia dismounted and unsheathed his sword. Some of the older guards, who had also been around at the time of Shaojia's shameful retreat, felt the obligation to kowtow before their true emperor as the shimmering blade of the Imperial Fang, rumored to have been forged with a piece of the Emperor Quanlong's tooth imbedded within it, shone regally in the sunlight before he sheathed it.

The younger guards, however, were not as impressed. "What are you doing?" one cried. "Are you mad? His Imperial Majesty-"

"-is on his way," one of the guards from up on the wall reported. "Open the gates! His Imperial Majesty comes to greet the newcomers!" He then disappeared from sight as he kowtowed.

The gates opened with a deliberate slow as Shaojia's father's former Minister of Civil Affairs Liu Mengde, now renamed as the Yongshou Emperor, was escorted through the gate by his carriage carriers. The regal robes of the emperor, exact in design as Shaojia's, adorned Liu Mengde's body while the beads that hung from the imperial hat covered his face.

"Who dares impersonate I, the Yongshou Emperor of Chang!" Liu Mengde bellowed.

"Is that any way to greet me, Uncle Liu?" Shaojia mocked as he turned his horse to trot towards him. Imperial guards formed in front of the Yongshou Emperor to stop his advance. Shaojia's own guards then imitated this, forming in front of Shaojia to keep the official Imperial guards away.

"How dare you-" Liu started but stopped. His eyes bulged as he stumbled out of his chair.

"Your majesty!" his attendants cried as they rushed toward him.

Liu stopped them by holding up his hand. "I'm fine." He dusted off his hands and stood up. On the horse, Shaojia towered immensely above the 5'4", 66-year-old man. "Why have your returned? We thought that you dead."

"So you and your brother planned, Civil Minister," Shaojia replied coldly, referencing to Liu's former station. The Imperial Guards balked at this and made a motion to charge before Quanbei drew a .38 Special Snub Nose revolver and aimed it at one of them. Having never seen a gun before, the Imperial Guards paused and stared at the contraption curiously.

Meanwhile, Liu and Shaojia continued their arguement. Liu stepped back, offended. "Wh- I did no such thing! Though I felt remorse for you killing my elder brother, I grieved more for the loss of the Late Emperor Quanlong. How dare you make such fierce accusations! Treason is punishable-" He stopped as he watched Shaojia retrieve some pieces of parchment from his robes.

Shaojia opened one of them and read it. "'Brother, I have to agree with you. His Majesty the Huogong Emperor may be, but His unwillingness to go to war with the other nations is killing me! It might condemn us to torture in the afterlife, but at least our legacies will be remembered, or yours anyways. Regardless, we must kill Quanlong. That's right. I used his first name. I don't give a damn anymore. He is killing our nation so maybe we should kill him. If the fool still possessed Heaven's Mandate, which I greatly doubt, we won't be able to kill him, would we?'"

Liu's mouth flapped openlike a land-locked fish gasping for air. Except he was gasping for an excuse. "Your Majesty, are you alright?" Everyone turned around to look at a man that galloped toward them upon a gallant steed. He quickly dismounted and drew his sword.

Liu held up his hand. "Yes, I am fine General Zhang."

"Then who is he, Your Majesty?" General Zhang asked as he pointed his jian at Shaojia. "His bare image speaks blasphemy. How dare he don the robes of the emperor!"

Liu sighed. "He... is the Emperor of Premature Reign, which I suppose must be replaced as a posthumous name cannot be used upon the living." He fell into a kowtow. "I abdicate to thee, Your Majesty."

Shaojia dismounted slowly as the other guards fell to kowtow along with the others. The general, however, was not convinced. As Shaojia went to the recently-resigned Liu Mengde, General Zhang pointed his sword at Shaojia. "Lies! If this child is who he says he is, then he is a coward and a traitor to the state of Chang! Imperial blood or not, he cannot take the crown for he obviously does not have Heaven's Mandate!"

Shaojia's mouth curled into a sad yet amused smirk. "I knew your father, General Zhang. He was a wise man. He taught you well. Your accusations are fair enough, so let me tell you what. We will duel. I am only 12-years-old. It would be simple for you to defeat me, but if I truly have Heaven's Mandate, I should be able to beat you. Do you accept?"

"Don't do it, Zhang," Liu said as he lifted his head to look at the general. "He is the emperor, whether anyone wants it or not. And we must respect the wishes of the Late Emperor Quanlong."

Zhang ignored him. "I accept. Draw your weapon."

Shaojia nodded. He took his father's sword's scabbard out of his sash and handed it to Quanbei who held the scabbard. Then, Shaojia drew the jian. The guards cleared well out of his way and made room for the two combatants in a loose circle of human barricade.

Zhang charged Shaojia, his own jian held high. He stabbed at Shaojia who stepped to the side. He then slammed the hilt of his sword into Zhang's temple, sending him staggering to the ground. He then approached Zhang who was still recovering from the blow to the temple. With cold efficiency, he stabbed his jian through the general's armor, through his spine, and out the other side. Putting his foot down on the general's back, he quickly extracted the blade.

He turned away from the slain general. The guards cleared out of Shaojia's way and kowtowed repeatedly. Liu kept his head touching the ground as Shaojia approached him. "Stand up, Civil Minister Liu."

Liu gulped as he stood up and kept his head bowed. "I accept all punishment that I deserve, Your Majesty."

Shaojia looked at Liu before looking over to the guard captain. "Spread the word around the capital. Prepare a state funeral for General Zhang and notify his clan. I want to have a word with Civil Minister Liu in private. Take my guards with you and provide them with quarters. Close the gates." The guard captain bowed, although awkwardly and nervously, and all of the guards left, the gate closing behind them.

Liu Mengde gulped again as Shaojia turned back. He dropped to his knees and kowtowed, begging, "Please have mercy, Your Majesty."

Shaojia smiled fakely, a hidden cruelty underneath. "Of course. But your actions cannot go unpunished." He pointed towards the forest. "You are hereby exiled from society. Go find shelter in a temple and beg the gods' forgiveness. When you have proof of their favor, you can return."

Liu Mengde sighed and the now-exiled minister got up and bowed deeply. "Thank you for sparing me, Your Majesty." He then started walking towards the forest.

Shaojia offered out his hand to Quanbei who gave him the revolver. Leveling it with the back of Liu's head, he took aim before saying, "No thanks necessary, Liu." He then pulled the trigger. The shot rang throughout the clearing and a flock of birds flew out from the forest. Liu jerked once before his body dropped to the ground. "I didn't help you."

"Do you always have to end things like that?" Paosung asked, slightly annoyed. "Always with a catchphrase or a fancy saying."

Shaojia scoffed. "There are still 5 bullets in this thing, Paosung, don't tempt me."

Quanbei shook his head and sighed. "I'll have the men put the corpse in a ditch somewhere. Maybe you should go ahead, Brother, get everything all sorted out."

Shaojia nodded as he mounted his horse. "Now we can get to work." He yelled to the gate guards on the other side. "Open the gates!" The gates opened with a dramatic slow. Shaojia snapped the reins and the horse galloped through Beijing's Main Street. On either side of him, the capital's population lined the streets, kowtowing to their new emperor.


	5. On Vacation

**Chapter 5:**

**On Vacation**

**Author's Note:As a finale for these bonus episodes, here's something for our fluff fans, more or less the fangirls, courtesy of my little sister Emily. By the way, sorry for the late release, but we've had some family problems to deal with, but they've all been settled now.**

* * *

_"Despite all the death and destruction that comes with the job, I still do it for the fact that I'm protecting my family and the people I care for. Oh, and the pay's good too." Dennis Coughlin, C-16_

* * *

Summer. Jimmy both loved and hated summer. He loved it for the fact that it was when the school's let out and the kids can relax. At the same time, he hated it because of the scorching Retroville heat. Of course, it seemed that all of Texas along with the rest of the South was undergoing some type of heat qave phenomenon Hell-bent on making people want to move to Canada.

Jimmy fanned himself with a newspaper as he sat on his house's front porch. It had been about 3 months since the war had ended. Things had finally started getting back to normal. Both of his parents, along with all of the other adults in Retroville, had come to a full recovery and were back at home, much to the children's relief. They were glad to have their parents back, even if it was awkward for the valiant few that remained enlisted as Enforcers whose parents had difficulty adjusting their child's new occupation.

One such child was Jimmy. He didn't want to tell his parents the full specifics of the Enforcer program until after they had recovered, but that didn't prove very smart; his dad had promptly passed out. While his father was unconscious, he an his mom got into a heated arguement about him staying enlisted as an Enforcer. Strangely enough, there was no such arguement concerning his increasing relationship with Cindy or the fact that she was living with them and just a room away from his. He wanted to strike that down as simple sympathy and admiration for the poor girl, having lost her mother to the war, but he knew better. His mother was one crafty woman.

Now, Jimmy's mind drifted towards Cindy, who came outside of his house wearing her usual green tank top but with Daisy Duke blue jeans to help cope with the sweltering heat. Sweat rolled off of her pale, young body as she plopped down next to him. "Sometimes I wish that we were in Canada. I'd rather freeze to death than melt anyday."

Jimmy chuckled. "I'm with you on that one." He looked across the street and saw Sheen and Libby riding a bike with Sheen pedaling and Libby seated behind him, a duffel bag slung across her back. He waved to them. "Hey Sheen! Libby! Where are you guys going?"

"The beach!" Libby yelled back as Sheen stopped the bike, colored purple for his beloved superhero. "You guys wanna come?"

Sheen balked. "What? Wait, I thought this was supposed to be a private time, you know: you plus me minus clothes equals a good-"

Libby slapped Sheen so hard in the side of the head that the Latino boy fell off of his bike. "What kinda girl do you think I am!"

Sheen back-pedaled away from Libby before answering, "The pretty kind?"

Libby glared at him. "Compliments won't keep me from castrating you before the end of the day, but thank you anyways."

Cindy and Jimmy both tried to stifle their laughs as they approached the bickering couple. Sheen had matured a bit as well, after the war, but in all of the wrong ways. He still retained his childish antics but has added sexual innuendos and adult jokes to his arsenal, much to Libby's dismay. Her response to Sheen has, however, remained the same.

Jimmy went over to help Sheen up. "We'd like to go, but me and Cindy already have something planned for today. Maybe some other time." He glanced at Cindy who had a confused expression on her face. "Where's Carl? Maybe he could go with you."

Sheen pulled himself up with Jimmy's help and dusted himself off. "Didn't he tell you? He and his parents left for Canada last night. He said they'd be back next week."

Jimmy glared at the sun. "Stupid heat wave's even affecting my memory. He did tell me that, I just forgot."

Cindy smiled as she shook her head, her blonde ponytail swinging side to side as she did so. "Wow, we better get you cooled down, quick, before your brain starts to look like Butch's."

"Funny," Jimmy said dryly as he pulled the keys to his hover car out of his pocket. With a press of a button, the garage door swung open¡nd his hover car drove itself out and met up with them on the street. "Come on, I'll give you guys a lift. Strap the bike onto the while I get some stuff locked up, alright Sheen? I have to lockdown my lab before my dad messes with my experimental cold fusion generator... again."

"Got it, El Capitan!" Sheen replied, saluting. The reason: no one really knows. Quite frankly, as far as Jimmy concerned, he didn't want to know, for fear of his sanity.

* * *

Cindy waved goodbye to her friends as they left the beach on the side of Lake Retroville which sat just outside of Retroville's southern city limits. She then turned to the young man beside her driving the hover car and asked, "Okay, Jimmy, what're you planning?"

Jimmy smirked as he pushed the hovercar to climb altitude slowly. "Remember during the war when you asked if we could go back to that island in the Pacific one day?"

Cindy furrowed her eyebrows and nodded slowly before realization dawned on her. "Oh, Jimmy!" She hugged him fiercely from the passenger seat before letting go and frowning. "Wait, what about your parents? And-"

"I already handled everything," Jimmy said. "I hated lying to my parents, but we couldn't just up and leave to some uncharted island for no reason except leisure, so I told them that something came up in Enforcer Land and that we have to go to some really important meeting for a coulple of days. I had Goddard pack us some clothes and put them in the trunk, too."

Cindy beamed as she leaned across to lay her shoulder on Jimmy's shoulder. "Thanks, Jimmy. You don't know how much this means to me."

Jimmy smirked. "I'm pretty sure I do. I wouldn't have done it if it didn't mean a whole lot to you."

The blonde next to him simply rolled her eyes and playfully slapped his chest. "You know, when a girl gives you a compliment or says something like that, the smart thing to do would be to shut up and nod, Big Brain."

Again, he smirked. "I know, but I couldn't resist messing with you."

The rode in silence for a while. Cindy was amazed at the speed at which the hovercar seemed to go, despite the fact that she had ridden in it several times in the past. She looked to her right as a flock of seagulls flew by them. Then, she remembered that seagulls resided near water.

She looked down and was surprised to see that they were currently flying over the crystal blue depths of the Pacific Ocean. She knew that the hovercar was fast, but last time, it had taken them about 2 hours to get to the point©n the ocean where they had been before they had fallen out of the hovercar and ended up on the island. They had barely left Retroville 20 minutes ago and already they were soaring over the ocean.

"Jimmy, did you do something to the hovercar?" she asked as she continued to look over the side of the hovercar. A cruise ship waded through the choppy ocean waves underneath them before quickly disappearing from sight as the hovercar continued to speed towards the island.

Jimmy smiled at her comment before nodding. "Remember those Enforcer paychecks we got a while back?" he said, referencing the $75,000 paycheck that he, Cindy, Sheen, Libby, and all of the other enlisted Enforcers received as a result of the war. Most of that money went to help pay for some damages and to help increase the standard of living in Retroville while the rest went to luxury. However, as the Enforcer Leader of N-12, Jimmy got an added bonus: a $25,000 bonus to be exact.

"Yeah," Cindy answered. "Whatever happened to yours, anyways? I put mine into a bank account."

Jimmy patted the dashboard of his hovercar. "I gave a good chunk of it over to NASA to specially create a hydro-solar engine system based off of my own designs, calculations and schematics. I could've made it myself, but I didn't have the materials I needed with me. The end result was the new engine currently residing in my hovercar which can push out about 7,000mph. I'm going a little below that. Pretty impressive, huh?"

"I'll say," Cindy muttered numbly as she began to saw a cluster of islands nearby. "Hey, I think our island's somewhere down there."

Jimmy nodded. "Before we left, I recorded the island's exact location using the onboard GPS." He pressed a button on the dashboard and the radio flipped over to reveal a GPS radar/tracking system. On the green screen a bright yellow blip appeared to the northeast of the center blip that indicated their location.

He pushed forward on the steering wheel to make it descend, much like a pilot would to their plane to make it do the same thing. Clouds flew past them as the scent of ocean breeze intensified. The soft squawking of the seagulls created an ambient bliss that went well with the sloshing of ocean waves.

They passed directly over the forest that covered at least 75 percent of the island before touching down at the beach. Jimmy got out of the hovercar, quickly followed by Cindy, and went over to the trunk. "I came here a while ago to talk to an old friend. I hope he got everything fixed up like I asked him to."

Cindy raised an eyebrow at the confusing remark but said nothing as she grabbed a suitcase while Jimmy grabbed the other. She followed Jimmy as he led them into the forest. "Where are we going, Jimmy? I hope you remember the giant spider and the snakes from last time."

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Just trust me, okay? It'll all be worth while." Jimmy led Cindy through the forest for a good 5 minutes before the sounds of a roaring waterfall reached their ears. Soon, they exited a part of the forest and entered a beautiful clearing. A stunning, blue lake sat ina deep depression in the middle of the clearing, trees bending over above it to filter the sunlight that increased its beauty. A grand waterfall poured a continuous stream of water into the pond and replenished it, also causing a white mist to form at its base and causing cool air to greet them as they exited the forest.

However, it wasn't the natural beauty of the clearing that surprised Cindy. It was the small house sitting not too far away from the waterfall that did it. It was a modest home, but it was a nice home. Wood from the nearby trees was the main construct for the modest-sized hut with leaves topping off the roof.

Jimmy whistled and out came a monkey dressed in a bellhop uniform, looking very happy and upbeat as it approached them. "Ah, and here are our hosts." He took the suitcase from Cindy's hand, the girl being too stunned to saying anything as he then passed the suitcase along with his own to the monkey. "Thank you, Alex." He produced a small bunch of bananas from the hypercube that he had brought along with him and handed both items to the monkey. "Your tip plus pay for our stay, a lifetime's supply of bananas."

The monkey squawked in delight as it hurried along to deliver the baggage to the house. Cindy finally snapped out of her´rance. "Wow, not only did you prepare a summer beach house for us, you got us a monkey bellhop too." She kissed him chastely on the cheek. "This is gonna be great."

* * *

Jimmy waited for Cindy to come out of the house he had the monkeys make. In the meanwhile, he lounged in a beach chair lazily, a pair of dark sunglasses over his eyes and his arms folded behind his head. Dressed only in swimming trunks, the soft tropical sunlight and cool breeze from the lake nearly lulled him to sleep before he heard light footsteps on the grass behind him.

He lowered his sunglasses and turned around to see Cindy wearing a light green two-piece bikini which left little to his adolsecent imagination. He gave a low whistle which caused Cindy to blush. "Last time we were here, I don't remember you wearing those."

Cindy flashed a disarming smile before moving over to sit in the beach chair beside him. "Well, last time I didn't have my wardrobe with me." She then glanced over at the lake before getting up and walking towards it. Once she was at the edge of it, she called back, "Hey Jimmy, how about a swim?" She then bent her knees and prepared to dive in.

Jimmy watched as her petite form jumped into the blue depths of the lake. He grinned from ear to ear before jumping out of his chair and diving headfirst into the pool. Cindy had just surfaced by the time Jimmy had dove and when he hit the water, she was splashed. Wiping the water from her eyes, she looked around for him before she felt a strong arm against her waist and felt herself being pulled against a soft yet strong chest.

"Miss me?" Jimmy asked as they floated in the water.

She turned around in his embrace and put her hands on his chest. "Nope," she replied before she looped her hands around his neck and pressed her lips firmly onto his. She felt him return it, his hands moving to brace her neck and the small of her back gently as he dipped her. Finally, after what seemed like hours but were in reality just a few seconds, they broke apart for air. She smiled. "You never left."

Their eyes locked as they continued to float in the water. Then, a soft breeze wafted through the trees and shook them slightly before dipping in and out of the lake. Jimmy saw Cindy shiver slightly and frowned. "Come on, let's get out of here and dry up before we catch a cold."

Cindy nodded and started to wade towards the lowest part of the depression where they could climb up to shore before Jimmy grabbed her hand and pulled her back. She was about to ask why when she felt him loop her arms around his neck before she understood. She swung herself around so that she could sit on his back and laid down on top of him as he pedaled toward the shore.

"Why do I get the feeling that was just a showing of machoness as opposed to courtesy?" Cindy muttered softly as she admired the contraction and retraction of Jimmy's toned back muscles.

Jimmy glanced backwards with a perverse yet innocent smile as he continued to swim to shore. "I don't know what you're talking about," he replied in kind. "But it looks like you're enjoying yourself."

Cindy blushed deeply as they reached the shore. She then clasped her arms around his shoulders and hung on as Jimmy pulled both of them out of the water and onto the grass. He dumped her playfully onto the grass before collapsing next to her, his chest moving up and down as he caught his breath. Again Cindy blushed as she watched the slightly defined chest muscles of the boy before her unconsciously dance provocatively.

She yawned before scooting herself closer to him. He looked at her as she laid her head against his chest and curled close to his side. He chuckled slightly until it was interrupted by his own yawn. Cindy looked up at him and giggled before kissing him quickly on the lips. Jimmy swung his arm around to pull her closer to him. They both fell asleep while a family of monkeys watched from a nearby tree, one of them passing out banana's from Jimmy's hypercube to the others.


End file.
